Sign up for free recipes, meal strategies & cooking tips to make it easy

{recipe} Quickest Curried Zucchini: The Anatomy of a Scratched Together Side Dish

August 30, 2010

I’m finally back. Not back for a few days before leaving again. Like really back. Getting ready for the start of school. Organizing fall clothes for the kids. Putting the suitcases away until November. And just settling back into a schedule. Because it’s only been two days since we were lounging, off the grid, on the glorious Oregon coast.

But you know what all this means, right? The cupboard is bare.

I’ve been hanging in by running to the store for this and that which, yesterday, included some gorgeous golden zucchini. I also grabbed cilantro just because. But then I got home and wondered: zucchini and cilantro?

It’s not that it sounds horrible. Just, well, a little odd. But probably only because I’d never paired the two before. (Have you? Tell!) I stared at my near-empty fridge hoping for inspiration, which came in the form of a recent batch of Quick Pickled Golden Raisins. Now I was getting somewhere!

Zucchini. Cilantro. Pickled Raisins.

Sound strange? Questionable, even? Sure, I’ll admit that it’s a motley crew of ingredients, but the addition of just one more component—curry powder—made them sing together. Like a carefully orchestrated choir.

Of course! Curry. Goes great with sweet and sharp pickled raisins and always lovely garnished with cilantro. The Hungry Papa and I ate our zucchini as prepared, and I added higher protein Greek style yogurt (a great condiment for curry) to portions for the Hungry Boys.

Not bad for an empty fridge and random selection of ingredients, huh? A keeper. Blogworthy, even.

What dishes that you’ve scratched together have become surprising additions to your dinner repertoire? Tell us!

2. In the meantime, heat olive oil in a non-stick pan over medium high flame until oil begins to ripple. You want your pan to be h-o-t! Toss zucchini into pan, roughly arranging pieces in one layer. Sear one side until fragrant and golden brown, then toss. Keep cooking until both sides of all pieces are brown in spots and zucchini is cooked through around the edges.

4. Remove zucchini from heat. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in cilantro and Quick Pickled Golden Raisins. Serve hot alongside chicken or lamb. You can also mix this with yogurt, rice and/or couscous.

*Note: This dish can be mashed up (or served as finger food to older babies) as prepared and shared with babies as young as 6 months. Consider adding yogurt or cottage cheese for protein and, depending on your babies taste, to soften the curry flavor. If taking a more traditional approach to feeding babies, you can pull out any of the ingredients that make you nervous along the way—though you don’t need to for health reasons (in fact, the more flavor, the healthier!). In other words, feel free to skip the raisins or cilantro in baby’s portion.

You might also like

I want to learn how to pickle. No. I want to know how to pickle. Like, really, KNOW how. In an inspired way. Beauce, who doesn’t love pickles?! I know they are popular with the kiddos. My kids are certainly proof. The tangy, sour flavor is excitingly explosive to them. It’s the same phenomenon as […]

So, I’m not sure that I’m using the word redux exactly right. (Um… despite having looked it up.) But I think you’ll get the point quickly. Last week I made this yummy Zucchini Mint & Ricotta Frittata (say that 10 times fast!), which inspired this quick and easy side. All the same stuff, sans eggs. […]

From Sites I Love

Stacie Billis is a food editor, recipe developer, and cookbook author with a Master’s degree in child development who is absolutely as geeky and hungry as that makes her sound. Stacie is always ready to eat delicious food and loves sharing her healthy eats with her family—most of the time.